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Chapter 4 – The First Hype
April 23, 1994
Two days had passed since the meeting with Sam at Dawn Publishing.
During that meeting, they had decided to serialize Pokémon first. Compared to the other two stories, it was much easier for younger readers to understand. The cute creatures and adventurous world made it perfect for children.
However, the manga would not be published immediately.
The first chapter would appear next Saturday.
Until then, the publishing company began preparing something very important.
Hype.
Dawn Publishing started promoting the upcoming manga in several newspapers and magazines. They described the young creator as a once-in-a-generation genius.
Fortunately for Ryan, they did not reveal his name.
They only mentioned his age.
Even so, Ryan still felt embarrassed when he read the article.
If my friends see this, they'll never stop teasing me…
Still, it was better than having his full name revealed.
Today was Tuesday, which meant school.
Ryan honestly didn't want to go.
But his parents insisted.
They believed school was important and thought Ryan should focus on his studies instead of spending all his time drawing manga.
What they didn't realize was that Ryan had already learned everything in his previous life. Even if he skipped school entirely, he could still score full marks in every subject.
Well… maybe they know, Ryan thought with a sigh.
After waking up, he quickly got ready and walked into the dining room.
His father, Rajesh Giri, was already sitting at the table drinking coffee.
"Morning," Ryan said.
Rajesh looked up from his newspaper.
"Morning. So, how's the serialization going?"
He asked because he had been away on a business trip the previous day and had missed the meeting.
Ryan explained everything that had happened with Sam.
The contract.
The serialization plan.
The release date.
After hearing everything, Rajesh nodded.
Then Ryan asked something that had been bothering him.
"Dad… did you know about Mom's family owning the publishing company?"
Rajesh smiled slightly.
"Yes."
Ryan blinked.
"You knew?"
"We didn't want to tell you earlier," Rajesh explained calmly. "We wanted you to focus on school first. But we didn't expect you to start writing manga."
Ryan's mood immediately became a little sour.
"So you were hiding it from me…"
Rajesh laughed lightly.
"Well, now you know."
Soon it was time for school.
Ryan grabbed his bag and headed downstairs just as the school bus arrived at 8 AM.
He stepped onto the bus and looked around.
Ryan was naturally outgoing, so he had many friends.
But three of them were particularly close.
Rachel.
Chandler.
And Raj.
At first, Ryan hadn't thought much about their names.
But after visiting their houses and spending time with them, he realized something strange.
They looked exactly like their TV show counterparts.
Rachel and Chandler from Friends.
Raj from The Big Bang Theory.
Ryan didn't know how the timelines worked.
Friends had started in 1994, but The Big Bang Theory wouldn't appear until 2007.
Clearly, this world wasn't exactly the same as the one he remembered.
But honestly…
Ryan didn't mind.
If anything, it made things more interesting.
Otherwise, life might have been boring.
"Hey Ryan!"
Rachel waved at him from a seat near the window.
He walked over and sat beside her.
Rachel's house was one of the earlier stops on the bus route, so she usually boarded before him.
"So," she asked curiously, "how's the serialization going?"
Ryan had shown his manga to his three friends before, so they already knew about it.
"It's going well," he replied.
Just then the bus stopped again.
Two more passengers climbed aboard.
Raj and Chandler.
Raj still looked slightly shy around girls, although he was comfortable talking with Rachel and Ryan.
Chandler, on the other hand, had his usual mischievous grin.
The moment he saw Ryan, he walked over dramatically.
"Well, well," Chandler said loudly. "Look who we have here."
"The once-in-a-generation genius."
Ryan immediately groaned.
"You saw that article?"
"Of course," Chandler laughed. "The whole city probably saw it."
Rachel giggled while Raj tried to hide his smile.
Ryan buried his face in his hands.
"This is exactly what I was worried about…"
The bus continued moving while the four friends chatted and joked with each other.
Before long, they arrived at school.
Nothing particularly exciting happened during the classes that day.
Ryan finished his assignments easily while the teachers continued their normal lessons.
Since their schedules were different, the four friends agreed to meet again after school.
When the final bell rang, they gathered outside the school building.
And Ryan had a feeling that something interesting was about to happen.